Mother Bella
by LordErkin
Summary: When Harry Potter vanquishes the Dark Lord Bella is freed from his control. She sets out to repay her savior only to find him being mistreated by his relatives. Now she will become the new mother of the boy-who-lived.
1. Free

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter.

**A/N:** Hi! This is my first story. It is an idea I have had for a while and since I put it to print I decided that I should share it with you. We will have to see if I actually continue the story or not. I am not really an author. If anyone like the idea and want to run with it that is OK with me.

Chapter 1: Free

"Gone." She could no longer feel his presence in her mind. **He** was gone.  
She was in control again for the first time in many years.

"What?" She looked up at the sound of someone speaking. She was sitting at a small round table in a large room. Opposite of her sat a man in dark robes. Death Eater robes. Around them were a dozen or so other tables. Some held more Death Eaters, some were empty. The man had long pale blonde hair and cold grey eyes. She knew him well.

"Did you say something?" Lucius Malfoy asked looking at her curiously.  
"No need to look so lost. The Dark Lord will be back from the Potters any minute now, and I'm sure he will have something for you to do then. Maybe he will let you accompany him when he deals with the Longbottoms." he grimaced at this, it seemed he was not happy with the thought of pure-blood families being killed.

"I don't think he is coming back." she said. She was quickly regaining her mental faculties now. It was like coming out of a thick fog, everything suddenly much clearer. She knew were she was and what she had been doing for the last years. Or rather, what she had been made to do.  
"What do you mean? Is he heading directly to the Longbottoms then?" asked Lucius frowning a little at this. "I thought.."

"I don't think he is coming back. Ever." she cut him off. He looked shocked at this.  
If the shock was because she had interrupted him or because of the idea that the Dark Lord was not coming back she would never know. She had already shot up from the table and was well on her way toward the nearest exit before he could continue the conversation.

As she swept through the tables she thought back on how she had come to be here in the Dark Lords hidden mansion. One of his most favored Death Eaters, a part of his inner circle. Or so it seemed to most.

When she had graduated from Hogwarts her family had been all set on her marrying a "fine young pure-blood" and becoming a Death Eater. It was her duty they said. The problem was that while she agreed that pure-bloods were better wizards and witches then half-bloods and muggleborns, she didn't think there was a need to discriminate against them. After all, the pure-bloods would come out on top even without discrimination, it was the natural order of things. And she didn't hate muggles, which seemed to be common amongst the Death Eaters. She really had no thoughts about muggles at all. As long as they stayed away from the wizarding world she was happy to forget that they even existed. Who she did hate was more of a problem. She really really hated the person her family considered a "fine young pure-blood" and wanted her to marry.

How they had convinced her to go to a marriage meeting so she could "get to know" her prospective husband she couldn't remember, but it had probably revolved around it being her "duty". That she had already spent years at Hogwarts getting to know, and learning to hate him, was inconsequential.

She had arrived at the meeting planning to spend the minimum amount of time that was polite and then return home and inform her family that while he was very nice, they simply hadn't "clicked". She might even have gotten away with it, she was her fathers favorite after all. But it was not to be. **He** had been there. And **he** had not been pleased when she wouldn't conform to his plans.

She was not sure what spell he had used. Some variant of the imperious curse, or perhaps an obscure binding ritual. The result was the same. Her mind had lost control of her body. She could still see what she was doing, hear and feel what was going on, smell the death that so often surrounded her. But when she tried to take control, when she sent out impulses to move a muscle or to stop what her body was doing, it was like her mind was lost in a thick fog and the impulses could not find their way to her body.

It was a frightening experience. She often had to withdraw her mind into a sort of slumber, or she would have gone insane from her lack of control and the things her body was made to do. As it was she couldn't really be sure if she was still sane. She thought she was, but she had no way to prove it. She kept her mind awake often enough that she had an idea of what was happening in the world around her, and more importantly, to her. Her body, she didn't like to think of it as being her, had married and become a Death Eater just like her family had wanted. It had become a fanatical follower of the Dark Lord, no surprise really since it was his essence that controlled it. She was not sure how to describe the .. entity .. that controlled her body. It was a dark presence that was both the embodiment of the Dark Lords will, and totally subservient. It seemed to have no ambition of its own except to follow the Dark Lords orders and what it though the Dark Lord wanted when no orders were given. She knew her body was not directly controlled by the Dark Lord, he was to often surprised by its actions, and it seemed to have no knowledge except for what she had known before, and what it had learned since it took control.

Very few knew that she was being controlled. The Dark Lord and her husband were the only ones she was sure of, but she thought a few more of his inner circle might know. To her family and the rest of the Death Eaters she was upheld as an example of a pure-blood devoted to the cause, none of them aware that she was an unwilling participant in the Dark Lords mad crusade.

She had reached the apparition point. A number of low rank Death Eaters were standing guard around it, but they didn't dare stop her. In their eyes she were still who she were, or who her body had been. It was confusing. When the presence that controlled her faded from her mind, the part that was the Dark Lord had been first to go, this in turn led to the entire entity coming apart at the seams, leaving her disoriented mind in control. It was lucky that her mind had been awake at the time, or her body might have collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. As it were she was still processing what had happened, her mind unused to being in control of her body, bit and pieces of her mind floating around in her head waiting to be reintegrated, others still asleep after not being used for so long. She knew one thing though, the Dark Lord was gone. She couldn't be sure that he was dead, she knew he had attempted ways to become immortal. What he had done, and if he had succeeded she did not know, but he had had seemed so sure he would never die that she dared not hope that he had failed. She was sure that his body had been killed though, it was the only way she could think of that she could have been freed from his control. Either way, dead or alive, someone had defeated him and set her free. That meant that she owed this someone a debt. The greatest debt she would ever owe anyone in her life.

She was Bellatrix Black. And the Blacks of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black always payed their debts.

With a pop she was gone.


	2. Fire and Gold

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: In this story James Potter is the son of Charlus Potter and Dorea Potter née Black. This makes Harry the second cousin of both Bellatrix and Sirius.

Chapter 2: Fire and Gold

The first thing she did was get rid of her Death Eater robes. They were a symbol for her, a symbol of her enslavement. They were what her body would wear when it did all the terrible things that she was now known for. She had soon learned that when the mask came on it was time for her mind to slumber again. Still, even though she didn't have to experience every cruel thing that was done she knew it was happening. Sometimes she wondered which was worse, what her body was doing or what her imagination was able to conjure up. She knew some of it of course, it was not like she could switch of her awareness with the flick of a wand, and sometimes she was taken by surprise. And then there was the talk. The Dark Lord would point her out as an example to his followers. She was well known for her powerful Cruciatus curse. Magic was not only about the correct words and wand movements, or the power the caster could put behind the spell. Intent was often an important part, and this was especially true for the Cruciatus. As the entity that controlled her body had no purpose but to please the Dark Lord there were no distractions, no pity, no moral objections, no remorse. This enabled it to have a frightening intent behind its spells.

A quick "Incendio" and the robes caught fire. It was the first spell she had cast in many years. She was relieved that she had lost none of her ability. It had worried her a bit but it seemed that her body and magic still remembered what to do. She even thought she could still cast the spells that her body had learned while she was controlled. Not that she wanted to. The Dark Lord had focused his teachings on powerful dark spells such as the Unforgivables.

The bed her robes lay on caught fire. Soon the Death Eater mask cracked and started to melt. She chuckled as she tore her eyes away from the fast spreading fire. She was in her room in the Lestrange Manor. She had come here to change clothes and to collect her things. She never wanted to see her "husband" again. If she did, she would curse him with the foulest magic she could think of. It was to bad that she couldn't kill him. It was just not done for a pure-blood witch to kill her husband. She would have to get a divorce soon.

She opened her wardrobe and put on her favorite black dress. Then she picked up her bottomless bag and started to put her possessions in it. She had to hurry a little because the fire was spreading. She left anything her dear "husband" had bought her. Finally she shrunk her old school trunk and tossed it in the bag. After a few more "Incendio" she swept from the room. Unfortunatly the house wouldn't burn down. Any decent pure-blood family fortified their residence with flame repellent charms and the house elfs would be there to put out the fire as soon as she had left. But any trace that she had lived in that room would have gone up in flames by then, which was the point.

After a quick detour to raid her "husbands" emergency supply of galleons she was ready to leave. The question was where she should go. Her first thought had been to go to the Ministry and try to explain her situation, but she had quickly dismissed it. If she showed up at the Ministry claiming to have been under the Imperious curse she would be laughed all the way to the deepest cell in Azkaban. And who could blame them, it was a ridiculous idea for all that it was true. No, it was best to let things cool down a little first, see how other Death Eaters managed the situation. No use being the first to stick her chin out, she wasn't a Slytherin for nothing after all. Meanwhile she could take care of some buisness. She took her black hooded robes from the knob next to the front door and set out for Diagon Alley.

Diagon Alley was almost empty. The news of the Dark Lords demise was obviously not widespread. This was good, if anyone recognized her they wouldn't dare to interfere. It wouldn't be long before the street was packed with celebrators though, whoever stopped the Dark Lord probably couldn't wait to brag about it she thought. There must have been some sort of ambush at the Potters. Probably the whole Order waiting for anyone to show up. The Dark Lords secret spy was either a moron or a double agent. Served him right. A sudden thought struck her.

"God, I hope it was not Sirius who did it." she mumbled. Her cousin would never stop taunting her if she ended up in his debt.

She walked up the steps of a snowy white building. Gringotts was empty except for a number of Goblins. Pulling back her hood she walked up to a counter. The Goblins wouldn't care who she allegedly worked for as long as she had gold in their vaults.

"I would like to open a vault. Under Bellatrix Black." she stated with a lofty tone.

"Vault 614 is available. It belonged to a Black before, but is no longer in use." the Goblin said after a short pause during which he peered at her intently.

"That will do nicely." she replied with a small smile. "Now, my .. husband .. lets me have a monthly allowance from his vault. I want that allowance transferred to this new vault. Every month."

"Certainly Mrs, or would that be Miss Black soon perhaps." he cackled at this.

"That would be none of your concern." she snapped but couldn't help but grin a little. Goblins may be ugly creatures, but they understood revenge, and underhanded dealings were respected, as long as they were not aimed at Gringotts.

"I want a password on the vault as extra security." she added.

"As you wish. You will have to go down to the vault to set it. Here is your key." he handed over a small gold key and signaled a nearby goblin to take her down to her new vault.

When she got back from her cart ride Gringotts was no longer empty. From the sounds coming from outside neither was Diagon Alley itself. She quickly pulled up her hood again and walked up to a goblin reading a newspaper.

"Care to part with that?" she asked and held up a silver sickle.

The goblin just stared at the coin until she added another. He then quickly pocketed them and reached over behind a counter and handed her a fresh copy, grinning as he did so.

"Bloody goblins." she muttered as she walked away. She soon forgot about goblins as she read the news. As she had suspected it was about the Dark Lords demise. Apparently the Dark Lord had been defeated by Harry Potter. Not his father James the famous Auror but Harry Potter the fifteen **months** old baby. She didn't know what to think. If she understood it correctly there had been no ambush, no Order waiting in the bushes. The Dark Lord had killed the Auror and his muggleborn wife, then he had tried to kill their child Harry and simply .. died .. doing so.

Now she knew who she had to repay, but it had only created more problems for her. What did you do for a baby to repay a debt? Change his diapers? What could you give him that would make him happy? A toy wand or broomstick? None of that was enough to repay a debt of this magnitude. She would have to contact his remaining relatives and see if something could be worked out. Come to think of it, he was a relative of hers of some sort, a second cousin through her great aunt Dorea she thought.

Practically family.


	3. Family

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

**A/N:**

First, thank you for your reviews. Secondly, there have been some questions in them which I will try to answer by giving some of my thoughts on the story. My intention is to keep to canon as much as possible unless I feel I have to change it, with the obvious exception that Bella is a 'good girl' and all the effects that will have. This means that, yes, Voldemort is still alive, and he has horcruxes. There will however not be any 'living horcruxes' as I find them silly. Making your very much mortal snake a horcrux sort of defeats the purpose of them. Similarly since Regulus died before my story started he will, sadly, have to stay dead (unless I come up with some crazy scheme where he **has** to be alive, but don't hold out hope). I intend to cover Harry's time at Hogwarts etc, so with time the main character will become Harry. Bella will of course still be an important part of the story.

**Chapter 3: Family**

A cold wind swept over a hill in southwestern England. The black haired woman sitting at the top shivered then took a sip from her butterbeer before continuing to gaze over the surrounding moor. Bella had always liked being alone when she had things to think about, and once you learned to apparate it was easy enough to get away.

This time it hadn't exactly been her first choice to come here though. She had actually gone to the Leaky Cauldron after leaving Gringotts. She had wanted to relax in front of a warm fireplace with a butterbeer for company. Perhaps it had not been her brightest idea today, but she had been too distracted with the news to think straight. She only had time to get her order before she was recognized. It was clear that it was no longer safe to be a known Death Eater in public, as she had to disapparate to avoid an angry mob. Now she was stuck with a windswept moor instead of a warm fire. Atleast she still had her butterbeer.

It was getting late, and she was tired. She needed a place to stay the night, somewhere with a warm bed. Any inn was out of the question, her visit to the Leaky Cauldron proved that, and she had, literally, burnt her bridges with the Lestranges. She theoretically could stay at Grimmauld Place, but Aunt Walburga would send her back to her husband without hearing any explanations or excuses and blast her of the family tapestry quicker than she could say "disowned" if she argued about it.

No, her best bet were her sisters, or rather, her youngest sister. Her other sister, Andromeda, had married a muggleborn (honestly, what got into her), and had been disowned for her trouble. She wouldn't let a former Death Eater stay, even if she believed her explanation. Narcissa though, was not only married to a Death Eater, so that unfortunate part of her history presented no problem, but they had always been close as well.

Her mind made up, she stood up, drank the last of her butterbeer then vanished the bottle. A last look out over the empty moor and she apparated to Malfoy Manor.

She appeared outside the gates and quickly stepped through them. She could feel the wards examine her, but she was known and allowed, so they soon retreated. As she walked the path up to the house she couldn't help but admire the elaborate gardens. They had always fascinated her, Blacks were generally not much for gardening, often living in cities instead of the countryside manors that most rich pure-blood families preferred. Bella felt that she would enjoy having her own garden someday, even with all the work that was probably involved. Well, that was what house elves were for, weren't they?

"What are you doing here Bella?" Narcissa had come to meet her at the door.

"Hi Cissy. Is that how you greet your favorite sister?" Bella pouted with her lips and placed her hands on her hips in mock upset.

"I'm sorry Bella. I'm just so surprised to see you here. What with everything going on. I suppose you are here to see Lucius. He is not here, busy trying to figure out how to stay out of Azkaban." Narcissa droned on as she lead the way inside. She was clearly worried and upset, her long blonde hair untidy and her face paler than usual. In her arms she held a sleepy child wrapped in a blanket.

"Oh, Is this little Draco?" Bella stuck her face close to the toddler and made strange sounds and grimaces at him. Unimpressed he put on a grouchy expression and went back to his attempts at sleep. Bella looked slightly perturbed at this lack of reaction.

"What are you up to Bella?" Narcissa was very surprised by Bella's antics. "You have never shown any interest in Draco before."

"Well Cissy, there is an explanation for that." Bella was suddenly serious again. "Perhaps we could retire somewhere comfortable, it will take some time to explain."

Some time later Bella and Narcissa were sitting in comfortable armchairs around a low table filled with various refreshments. Bella had just finished with her story.

"I don't see why he would do something like that. He was supposed to be helping us regain our rightful place in society, not kidnap and enslave us." Narcissa was now even more distraught then before and more than a little angry. "We should never have supported him, nothing good ever came of it. Just wait till I tell Lucius about this."

"It's a little late to do anything now, don't you think? Besides, that's what Dark Lords do, tell you what you want to hear and make false promises of power. All to get more followers." Bella sighed deeply. "We should forget about him and go on with our lives. But I doubt the rest of the world will let us."

"There is still that bastard Lestrange. Forcing my sister into marriage, he will pay for that Bella, I promise you."

"Don't worry about him Cissy. He will get what he deserve in due time. There are more important things I need to do first."

"Are you talking about that Potter boy? I can see that you would be grateful, but he didn't do it for you, hell, he's to young to realize that he did anything noteworthy anyway. You don't owe him anything."

"I know I don't have to do anything, but I feel like I need to. I don't have much to go back to anyway so I.. I just want to do something for him. Is that so strange?" Bella looked pleadingly at Narcissa.

"No, that's understandable, as long as **you** want to. But I don't think that there is much that you can do. From what I heard Dumbledore has him hidden away with his muggle relatives." she grimaced at the thought.

"What! Why would he have to stay with muggles? There must be plenty of wizarding families who could take him!" Bella looked very angry at the thought of her savior being sent to live with muggles. "You could take him in Cissy, you are related, and he would have Draco for company when he grows up."

Narcissa gave her an incredulous look. "Do you really think Dumbledore would let him stay with the wife of a Death Eater? Honestly Bella."

Bella blushed at little at this. "What about Sirius then? He is as closely related as we are, and he was a friend of the boys father. He was in Gryffindor so Dumbledore should have no objections."

"You haven't heard then?" Narcissa asked. "Sirius is probably on his way to Azkaban by now."

"Huh? What for?" to say that Bella was confused would be an understatement.

"Apparently it was Sirius who betrayed the Potters location to the Dark Lord. They were under a Fidelius Charm and he was their Secret Keeper."

"Si.. Sirius did that? Sirius was the secret spy?" Bella was flabbergasted. "I don't believe it."

"I know, I couldn't believe it at first either. But someone was sure enough that he was arrested right away after it happened."

"One more Black on that madman's hands." Bella looked depressed. "You don't.. you don't think he could have been controlled like me?"

"That's a thought, but I don't think so. You said that you regained control right away when he.. vanished. But Sirius resisted his arrest. Blew up a wizard and a bunch of muggles. Why would he do that if he was innocent?"

Bella shook her head. "Sirius a murderer and Death Eater. He was the last person I would have imagined." They sat in silent contemplation for a while.

"So, how do you go about finding someone in the muggle world?" Bella asked at long last.

"I have no idea." was Narcissa's tired answer.

The following morning after breakfast Bella set out to find out. Lucius was still not home yet, so it had been just Bella, Narcissa and little Draco for breakfast. It reminded Bella of her childhood breakfasts. Of course, Narcissa hadn't had a child back then, and there had been an additional sister present, but it was still nice. After a short goodbye she left filled with good feelings about the day.

At the end of the day all of those feelings were gone. Her first idea had been to get a copy of the Muggle Studies textbook from Flourish and Blotts, but she didn't even make it to the store before she was recognized. After spending an hour apparating around England to get rid of the Aurors who followed her, she decided not to go back since she figured that the store was now being watched. Instead she headed for Gringotts to exchange some of her gold to muggle money in case she needed some when she entered their world to find "her Harry" as she now called him to herself. This went slightly better and she managed to complete the exchange before she had to flee again. After another chase she decided to head back to Malfoy Manor. Luckily she was now somewhat paranoid about Aurors and checked the surroundings before attempting to enter the grounds. And sure enough, the manor was being watched by a handful of Aurors. She didn't know if they had figured out that she might come here or if they were after Lucius, but it didn't really matter. In either case she would have to stay away so Narcissa didn't get into trouble for harboring a fugitive, which it seemed that she now was.

While she didn't learn anything about muggles she now knew that a simple hooded cloak was no longer a good way to hide ones identity. In fact it only seemed to arouse suspicion and call attention to her. It also seemed that the crowds, which were now much larger than in previous years, contained a great number of Aurors. It only made sense, she supposed, that the Aurors would be out in full force now that the worst was already over.

At least she had succeeded in getting some muggle money, and what bizarre money it was. For some reason muggles used a weight measure for their money, and they couldn't even get that right. The flimsy bits of paper, not gold or silver like proper money, that she got from the goblins, didn't weigh anything near a pound, much less the ridiculous amounts printed on them. If she had gotten them from anyone else she would have thought it was a joke, but goblins didn't joke about money.

With Malfoy Manor out she would have to find a new place to sleep tonight. Luckily she knew were many of the Death Eater hideouts were. One of the old abandoned ones would surely be, well, abandoned.

As luck would have it, the first hideout she tried, a cabin in the Quantock Hills, was not only empty but still in very good condition. After setting a simple ward to alert her if anyone approached, she went to sleep hoping that the next day would be more productive.

The next morning she checked Hogsmeade and then Diagon Alley again, both with no luck as there were Aurors around. Knockturn Alley was still relatively safe she found, but this was not of much help since if there is anywhere in England where you are the least likely to learn anything constructive about muggles, it's probably Knockturn Alley.

As she saw it she now had two choices, brave the muggle world and learn directly from the source, which she wanted to keep as a last resort, or try to find someone who knew and get the information from them. Unfortunately the people she socialized with at Hogwarts had not been the sort who voluntarily studied muggles, and since she didn't want to kidnap some random witch or wizard of the streets, she could only think of one person whom she could turn to.

Her sister Andromeda had not only taken Muggle Studies, she was also married to a muggleborn wizard. If anyone should know about them it had to be her. And as it was her sister she would have a chance to explain herself before the spells started flying. Or so she hoped.

She didn't know where Andromeda lived, but she did know the address of her Floo connection. Normally she would never consider flooing to someone unannounced, it was considered terribly rude after all, but she didn't think it would be wise to give her sister time to call the Aurors before she could speak to her.

Getting access to the Floo network was easy, there were several establishments in Knockturn Alley that had an unguarded Floo connection, all to make it easier for their clientele to come and go unnoticed. Bella simply walked in, threw some Floo powder on the fire and soon she was stepping out of the fireplace in Andromeda's house. All without speaking more than her destination.

She found herself in a, to her view, rather small room. There was a comfortable looking armchair and a loveseat in one corner and a bookcase and a cabinet along the walls. On the floor was a large thick rug. Sunlight flooded in through the single window giving the room a warm feeling. If she were to describe the room in one word, it would have to be "cozy". None of this however, mattered as much to her as the person standing in the middle of it.

Andromeda had been busy directing a handful of cleaning utensils with her wand. Now they hovered forgotten as she stared in shock at the fireplace.

Bella smiled and was just about to greet her when Andromeda reacted. "Stupefy!" she squeaked, her wand jerking in Bella's direction.

A lesser witch would have been hit by the spell, but Bella had always been a better duelist than her sisters, and it was not for nothing that she was considered one of the most powerful witches to graduate from Hogwarts this century. Even taken by surprise she managed to whip out her wand and form a shield before the spell struck home. A quick incantation of "Expelliarmus" was enough to end the fight as Andromeda was still in shock and could not react fast enough.

Grinning she snatched Andromeda's wand from the air and turned to finally greet her when she was again interrupted.

"Please! K..kill me if you have to, but don't hurt my little girl!" Andromeda was now begging.

Bella frowned, did she really think that she would hurt her own sister, much less her niece? Granted, her.. alter ego.. probably would have. "Look Andromeda, I know what you must think of me, but I would never kill my own sister, and I am certainly not going to hurt my niece."

"You.. you are here for Ted then?" she sobbed, "He is not here, and he won't be back all day so you can't hurt him either." she finished with a fierce scowl.

"I am not here to hurt anyone!" Bella was getting annoyed now. She took a moment to calm herself and was just about to continue when she was interrupted again.

"Mum? Who is she?" a girl, about 8 years old Bella thought, was standing in the doorway. She wore a yellow dress and held a teddy bear in her arms, and for some reason her hair was a bright blue.

"Ah." Andromeda was clearly worried about the girl being in the same room as Bella. "This is.. your aunt." she admitted after a pointed glare from Bella.

"Oh, hello." she said shyly.

"You're a cute one aren't you." Bella said happily. "Come and give aunt Bella a hug."

The girl contemplated this for a moment. Andromeda looked like she was trying to will her to run away instead, but didn't say anything. Finally she decided and made her way towards Bella, only to trip on the rug and fall to the floor.

"Are you OK?" Bella rushed forward to help her up. The girl mumbled something that sounded like "I'm used to it" while she picked up her teddy bear.

Bella was about to give her a hug when she remembered that she had a wand in each hand. "Here, you can have this, it eh, fell on me when I came through the Floo." she then gave the girl a quick hug. "You should go put it somewhere safe while I talk with your mother."

The girl nodded and turned to scamper out of the room with the wand held in a tight grip. Even with her wand now out of sight Andromeda looked relieved.

"So that was my niece. What is her name?" Bella asked.

Andromeda looked at her warily, as if wondering why she wanted to know. "Her name is Nymphadora." she finally said.

Bella could only stare at her. "Poor girl." she said softly. "Couldn't you have named her after some star or a constellation? It's a tradition you know."

Andromeda glared at her angrily. "I'm not a Black anymore. Besides, Narcissa wasn't named for any star either."

"But she did name her boy Draco you know."

"I'll be sure to remind Nymphadora of that when she has children then. Now, if you are not here to hurt us, what do you want?"

"I want your help with something." she smiled sadly, sure of what was to come.

"Help? You want my help? Why would I want to help you?" Andromeda said angrily. "You joined that.. that monster, and now that he's dead you turn to the very people you have been hurting for help? Well, you can forget about that!"

"Listen Andromeda. I never joined with him, he was controlling me with some sort of curse."

"A likely story." Andromeda interrupted her. "Why don't you go tell it to the Aurors? Or better yet, the Dementors."

"Like they would believe me when my own sister won't even listen to me." Bella sobbed, close to tears. It had hurt worse than expected to hear her sister say such things."

Andromeda softened a little at this. "Look, even if I were to believe you, I have no influence, so why come to me?"

"I didn't come here for that." Bella said softly. "I wanted your help with finding someone in the muggle world."

"What! Do you really expect me to help you find some poor muggle to torture? You are out of your mind!"

"Why do you keep assuming that I want to hurt everyone? I told you already that I'm not here for that."

"After what your husband and his friends did yesterday, what else am I supposed to assume?" Andromeda snarled.

"Oh no, what did that idiot do this time?" Bella sighed. "Will he never stop making things difficult for me?"

"They attacked the Longbottoms, Frank and Alice are in St. Mungo's recovering from being tortured with the Cruciatus Curse."

"Will they recover? And what about their son, is he alright?"

"Eh," Andromeda was a little nonplussed at Bellas apparent concern. "I think their son is ok, the Aurors got there pretty quick. They were responsive when they got to St. Mungo's from what I heard so they should recover in time."

"That's good. Rodolphus never was very good with the Cruciatus." Bella mused.

Andromeda stared at her. "They were arrested you know, both your husband and his brother."

"Really? That is good news! Did they get sent to Azkaban?" Bella asked gleefully. "I don't think even I can do much worse to them than the Dementors."

Andromeda paused for a moment, "Something really is different about you Bella. I'm not ready to believe you yet, but ask about what you wanted to know and if I deem it harmless enough I will tell you."

"I appreciate that Andromeda. I know this can't be easy for you." Bella said soberly. "What I want, is to find one specific person who lives somewhere in the muggle world."

"And you don't intent to harm this person?"

"Quite the opposite actually." Bella held up her wand. "I swear it on my magic."

Andromeda nodded thoughtfully at this. "You could check the telephone directories I suppose. They are geographically limited so it helps if you know in what area they live, but there are not so many that you can't check them all."

"Ah, of course, the telipon directories." Bella smiled happily. "What are those?"

Andromeda sighed. "A te-le-pho-ne is sort of like a Floo. The muggles use them to talk to each other, but they can't travel through them. The telephone directory list all the people who have a phone in an area and the number sequence you use to contact it, like the address you call out when using the Floo. But it also lists the street address where the person lives, which is what you are after."

Bella frowned, "What if a person is living with someone else, like a child or something, will they be listed as well?"

"Children are not generally listed, you have to look for their parents. Bella who are you looking for?" she looked curiously at Bella.

Bella avoided her eyes. "I rather not say, it should be enough that I promised not to harm him, shouldn't it?"

Andromeda shook her head. "Alright Bella, but if you really are innocent, don't go and do anything stupid now."

Bella muttered something unintelligible before continuing, "How do I find out who is related to someone? Are there family registries that you can check?"

"I am sure there is something like that, but I don't really know all this off the top of my head. You should know that there are a lot of muggles, many more than there are wizards, so there are usually more than one person with the same name. There might even be hundreds of persons with the same name if it is common enough."

Bella could only gape. "Muggles really are weird aren't they? I was thinking of getting the muggle studies book before, but there were to many Aurors around so I couldn't, now I think I really have to read it if I want to go there."

Andromeda scoffed. "The books they use in that class are really not that great. Most of the authors haven't really been in the muggle world for more than a quick visit. You can do better than that, in fact I have just the book for you."

She went over to the bookcase and rummaged through it for a bit. "Ah, here it is." she handed over a small book to Bella.

Bella looked at the book expectantly, it had a plain cover, with only the title on it. 'Visiting the Muggles, a Guide for the Curious Witch or Wizard' she read. She opened it up and examined the pages, there was a lot of text, but also pictures, strange pictures. She poked one of a man in a suit, a muggle she figured, "Why are the pictures not moving?" she asked looking at Andromeda.

Andromeda smiled slightly, "Read the book and you will find out."

Later that evening Bella lay on the bed in her cabin. She had been reading her new book, there were lots of new and exciting things to be learned from it, she would have to study it thoroughly. 'Who knew muggles could be so interesting' she thought as she fell asleep, clutching the book to her chest.


	4. Muggle World

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

**A/N:** First, I must apologize for taking so long to update. I recently started a new job which diverted much of my time. And yet, for all the time it took this chapter is not very long and not very much happens in it. I hope you like it despite this, since I felt that it was necessary to progress the story. The next chapter will have a little more action, and introduce some more characters. It might even be ready on time. (Whatever that means since I don't actually have a deadline...)

**Chapter 4: Muggle World**

There were many points where you could access muggle London that Bella knew off, there was the Leaky Cauldron, which was the most commonly used, but since she wanted to avoid attention it was too public, similarly the Ministry of Magic and St. Mungo's were not only too public but were heavily guarded by Aurors as well.

As luck would have it there was one place that not only unguarded, but could be counted on to be empty of people for all but select days of the year.

Platform 9 3/4 was indeed empty when Bella apparated there on an early morning the crack of her entry echoing dully between the walls. It was an eerie atmosphere for Bella, all the other times she had been here the place had been full of sounds, full of people. Now it was empty, the only movement a cold wind blowing along the track.

She quickly made her way over to the portal to the muggle part of the station. With an incantation she suppressed the spell that kept it blocked for most of the year so no muggles would accidentally stumble unto the platform. Having done this she took a deep breath and stepped through.

On the other side was chaos. A great stream of people flowed past her, they seemed in such a hurry that she was sure that even if the portal exit had not been protected by cleverly applied notice-me-not charms nobody would have seen her exit anyway. Bella stood frozen in shock for a moment, it was not that she was unused to crowds, the Hogwarts Express had just as many people on it and Diagon Alley could often be crowded, though not so much in recent years. It was the fact that she had stepped from the almost unnatural emptiness of Platform 9 3/4 into a rush of people that had shocked her.

The crowd petered out and Bella looked around for the first time. It seemed that a train had just arrived at platform 9 and she had ended up right in the middle of the departing passengers. 'Just my luck' she thought, 'What are the odds of a train arriving while I'm at the station?'

As she made her way out it soon became clear that it was not only likely, it would in fact have been almost impossible to pass through the station without having a train arrive during that time. Everywhere she looked people were hurrying back and forth, one platform was full of people waiting for a train to arrive, while another train was just leaving a second platform, it was empty for a few moments before it started to fill with people again.

She sat down on a bench just inside the exit to collect herself and figure out what was going on. Surely it couldn't always be like this? She looked around trying to see if there was some emergency somewhere. A glass screen caught her eye, she recognized it from her book as a television, a strange device that supposedly showed moving pictures. She had thought it would be similar to a magical portrait but this television was only showing text, and it was hardly moving at all. Maybe it was broken?

She waited for yet another wave of people to pass her then walked up to the television to inspect it. It was a list that consisted of a time, the name of a town and what she figured was a platform number. There were also a short text next to this, mostly it was shown as "On Time".

Bella didn't have to think long to realize that this was a list of the arriving and departing trains. It was harder to come to terms with the fact that there was a train leaving or arriving at the station every five minutes or so. She supposed she had always known, intellectually, that since Platform 9 3/4 was located between platform 9 and platform 10 there had to be at least that many platforms at Kings Cross. That this implied that there was a need for so many platforms had never occurred to her before now though.

Shaking her head at the sheer scale of the muggle world she went outside. The book had mentioned two ways muggles used to travel in London. One was the London Underground, which apparently was some sort of train that traveled in tunnels under London. Even though she figured it was most likely more or less the same as the trains she had just seen, she couldn't help picturing a Gringotts cart filled to the brim with muggles in suits, their ties flapping behind them as the cart sped along.

Her mirth at the image died as she spotted the second means of travel. She did not look forward to riding in it. When the ministry had introduced their version of this vehicle she had been excited to try it, but one trip on the 'Knight Bus' had been enough for her to never want to go near it again. Unfortunately the book told her that the way to see London was from the top of a bus.

She approached one of the buses, not really caring where it was going since she was mostly exploring today. It was not as tall as the Knight Bus, only two decks instead of three, and it was red instead of purple. She cautiously boarded it, and after fumbling a little with the unfamiliar muggle money to pay the fare she quickly went up to the upper deck and got a seat with a good view.

She clung tightly to her seat, waiting for the bus to start moving, a slight panic starting to rise. It was her first time using a pure muggle transportation device and she couldn't see any safety charms at all, not even the muggle safety straps she had read about. Perhaps she should risk a sticking charm, just to be sure.

She was pleasantly surprised however when the bus started up with only a slight jerk and then kept relatively steady. Compared to most magical transportation it was a pleasant experience, if a rather slow one, compared to the Knight Bus, it was heaven.

After bouncing a little in her seat she settled down to study where the bus was taking her. There were tall buildings on every side, and quite a few people on the sidewalks. What interested her the most however were the numerous horseless carriages. They seemed to be everywhere.

She quickly got out 'Visiting the Muggles' and searched for the entry she knew to be there. 'Automobile, commonly known as a car' she read. Well she certainly wouldn't want to use a word like automobile every day. Apparently they moved by setting of small explosions in the engine, but the author wasn't sure she believed that.

Bella looked curiously at one of the cars but couldn't see any explosions either. Not that she could see any other way for it to be moving, if she hadn't been in the muggle world she could have sworn it moved by magic.

She couldn't help but be impressed by these cars, they moved as fast a a good broom, and could hold an entire family even without expansion charms. Not that she would trade her broom for one anytime soon, well, not unless it could fly.

She started looking around again, as interesting as the cars were there were plenty of other things to see, hordes of people wearing all kinds of clothes, few of which looked anything like what a pure-blood would wear when dressing like a muggle, shops of all kinds, some she could recognize from their wizarding world equivalents, others she had no idea what they sold. There were plenty of examples of the muggle technology that she had read about, lights and signs, all powered by that strange electricity that she didn't quite understand even though an entire chapter had been devoted to it.

It was hard to understand why muggles had such a hard time accepting magic but didn't bat an eye when their technology did the same or equally impressive things. Perhaps it was not what was done but knowing how it worked that made the difference. Or perhaps it was simply familiarity, since children didn't need to know how things worked to take them in stride.

Bella spent quite some time on the bus before she decided to get off. She choose a stop that was next to a building that looked like it was filled with different shops. Some of the clothes she could see in the windows looked interesting. It was time to see how much she could get for her muggle money.

It turned out that she could get a lot for it, muggle items were ridiculously inexpensive. Of course, the clothes very not fitted by a tailor, but there were so many sizes and models to choose from that it was easy enough to find something sufficient. Even though the supply of good robes was lacking, she had bags full of dresses, blouses, sweaters and other items of clothing to carry as she headed down the escalators again.

The escalators were another marvel of muggle technology. Any Hogwarts student soon got familiar with moving stairs, but it was with whole stairs moving, and often not in a way that you appreciated. Bella could still remember the times, and points lost, when she was late to a class only because a stair had suddenly decided it wanted to lead somewhere else. These muggle stairs didn't move though, instead it was the steps that moved, bringing you with them. She had heard that the stairs to the headmasters office worked in a similar way, but since she had never been called there she wasn't sure if it was true.

Stepping off on a new floor she had to suppress the desire to buy the interesting items she spotted there, while they were cheap she couldn't easily access more money, at least not without a certain risk, so it was best to limit her purchases to the essential.

Sighing, she stepped on the next escalator, this fugitive business was tiring, she was a Black, and not used to a limited budget, she would have to find some way to make money the muggle way. The Blacks had made and maintained a fortune in the wizarding world, how hard could it be to do the same in the muggle world?

But first she had to see to some more essentials, her first priority was to find a safe place where she could apparate into muggle London without being seen, this was important, not only to uphold the Statute of Secrecy, but to ensure that the Aurors had no reason to search for her there. If she was lucky she might even make some progress on her main objective, information about the family of one Lily Potter n e Evans and her son Harry Potter.

With renewed vigour Bella walked back out on the busy London streets, a smile playing on her lips.


End file.
